by Roman aka jar

Aloa Jungle,

Monday once again.
What about another finished miniature?

A bust that I have started during a painting class with my friend Kirill Kanaev.
The class itself was great fun and there was a lot to learn from our teacher. If you like to read more
about the class, check the review:

Allright back to my bust. I started it during the class to paint what we were learning during the class. What I've observed when it comes to myself and classes by other teachers: I am confused afterwards. Really. When I go to a class I try to leave all my knowledge and own painting wisdom at home and go there with an empty bucket. Afterwards I have to paint a lot to put the bucket's content into my own painting style. For me it works only this way and after the class I was really unsure if I would ever finish the bust of the Greek Hoplite by Young Miniatures.

I did. Cool.

What really helps me when finishing up a project is it's story. Even with a bust. I try to gain information about the bust's topic, read some here and there, go back in history, learn for myself and in the end imagine myself being there too, with that guy the bust represents. Well, strange I know but I do. Can you do too?

Battle at Marathon 490 B. C. In 490 B. C. persian King Dareios I. wanted to take over the greek homelands. He organised a big invasion and gathered his army. It was the first time the persian tried to conquer greek homeland. His plan was to land his army with ships on the plains of Marathon, only twentyfive miles away from Athen. It was planned to be a surprise attack. Hah! Surprise! Surprise! Sneak in with an army of many thousand men and just catch all the greeks unaware.

Very often in history such plans were damned. Why? Because of spies, rumors, birds who could talk and the wind and smell. In this case the situation canalized into a battle at Marathon. The Athenians were definatly in a little hurry and with the help of additonal hoplites from Plataiai they had an army about 9000 hoplites, marching against the Persians. The Persians were famous for their archers and their cavalry and Dareios I. thought that the plains would be a great playground for his tactics. Well, history tells us also about an army of 2000 spartans who arrived too late to the battle. I just wanted to mention this.

Somehow - against all odds - the allied hoplites won this day. They drove the persians back to their boats and back over the sea to Persia. It was a great victory for Athen and Greece.

About the painting processPainting up the bust was fun during Kirill's class as I learned several tricks here and there from this great guy and painter. Finishing it after the class was impossible to me first. I did not know what to do on it, how to proceed, because my own ways of painting were a little disoriented. He was standing in my cabinet for a long time and just recently I told myself - screw it - finish him. So I did.

Maybe I was also a little bit confused, because some of my friends told me that this guy looks like Conchita Wurst from Austria. Maybe I was scared to paint further on him. I do not know, but thanks to my friends who went quiet about this during the last couple of months I was able to finish him.

Comments:

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Athenian Hoplite, Marathon 490 B. C.

Very nice, I like the shield in particular, the pegasus looks nicely different to the rest in style, giving it a touch of realism. Also, I dont see the supposed similarity your friends noticed; maybe you just have mean friends? The greek term for the veterans of Marathon is Marathonomachai, in case you care about that.

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